Casio G'zOne Type-V

They tripled the price for half the features?

"This phone was smoking hot last year in Japan. More than a year later they bring to America and what fell out in transit?- Web Browser- Email- GPS- Compass- Only comes in Nondescript Gray. (No black, red, green, orange...)

Oh, and it costs about $200 more for some reason...

I'm glad to see phones make a quicker transition from Japan and Korea, but this one has way too much lost in translation."

And it made me wonder. Why on earth is this phone $299? Plastic, even the shock-resistant kind, doesn't cost much. Seems like some gouging by Verizon.

And also, I am not going to get into the debate about Verizon absolutely crippling their phones, but why would they get rid...(continues)

got mine tuesday. quite pleased. moreso than i thought i would be. size bothers me less than i thought. i would have liked black instead of grey. i have owned cell phones since they were available day one. this is probably the best built one i have owned.

since it is not the ultimate in bling, the price seems a little high. but nothing like it exists at this time.

The company costs on this phone are higher than the price it is sold at just like basically every other phone. That is why phones are sold along with a contract agreement. The phone is brand new technology in the States and you have to believe Starcom knew that when they were negotiating the phone's cost with Verizon

wow... great response ^^ but does your cell phone have a huge piece of plastic all the way around it like your disposable cameras. If you think about it having battery connections, earpieces, microphones, keypads internal and external(side), data conectors, headset jacks all needing to be exposed to the elements, which in turn allows water to enter to the circut board, its pretty impressive they can make a water resistant phone.... but you can stick to your plastic bag around your phone for high technology!